Although mankind has always been interested in the use of alcohol as a fuel, up until recent times the cost has always made it prohibitive for most uses. Fuels, such as gasoline and kerosene, that are available from petroleum sources have always been cheaper. Recently, however, the cost of petroleum products has increased considerably and alcohol has become a more interesting material to use as fuel for automobiles or other combustion purposes. One particularly interesting use of alcohol is in the so-called "gasohol" in which about 10% of alcohol is added regular or low-lead gasoline. The alcohol can be added to the gasoline without any special industrial equipment, so that the suggestion has been made that an individual can make his own alcohol in his home and add it to his gasoline to increase his mileage and reduce his monitoring costs. First of all, the average home generates materials that can be used to make alcohol in small amounts. Secondly, the distillation process is a simple one that can be carried out without the use of industrial equipment. It has even been suggested that the heat to carry out distillation processes can be obtained by the sun in a solar still. Attempts, however, in the past to obtain a simple still that can be used in the home has been less then successful, since they have suffered from a number of disabilities. Among other things, they have been intricate and expensive and have required considerable amounts of maintenance to keep them in operating condition. Generally speaking, they do not lend themselves to operations by persons of only ordinary intelligence. These and other difficulties experienced with the prior art devices have been obviated in a novel manner by the present invention.
It is, therefore, an outstanding object of the invention to provide a solar still particularly adapted for home use in the generation of alcohol.
Another object of this invention is the provision of an apparatus for the separation of alcohol from alcohol-containing liquids, which apparatus is capable of use with crude mashes.
A further object of the present invention is the provision of a solar still for use with mashes from farm products or home refuse and garbage.
It is another object of the instant invention to provide a solar still which does not easily become clogged and does not require frequent cleaning.
A still further object of the invention is the provision of a solar still which is simple in construction, which can be made inexpensively from commonly-available materials, and which is capable of a long life of useful service with a minimum of maintenance.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a solar still which can be conveniently used in the home for the generation of alcohols from home wastes.
With these and other objects in view, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the invention resides in the combination of parts set forth in the specification and covered by the claims appended hereto.